New Zealand leader, rival help charity after hot-mic vulgarity
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was caught on a hot mic using a vulgarity against a rival politician last week, it seemed the nation’s political discourse could be taking an ugly turn heading into an election year.
But Ardern and her target, lawmaker David Seymour, agreed on a plan to make good. They both signed an official parliamentary transcript of Ardern’s comment and auctioned it for charity. The auction closed Thursday with a top bid of just over 100,000 New Zealand dollars ($63,000).
“Can’t say I expected this,” Ardern wrote on Facebook. “A faux pas with the old mic in parliament has turned into $100,100 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. My thanks to David for being a good sport and to everyone who placed a bid.”
After five years as prime minister, Ardern faces a tough election campaign in 2023. Her liberal Labour Party won reelection two years ago in a landslide of historic proportions, but recent polls have put her party behind its conservative rivals.
Ardern’s comment had come after Seymour, who leads the libertarian ACT party, peppered Ardern with questions about her government’s record for around seven minutes during Parliament’s Question Time, which allows for spirited debate between rival parties.
After sitting down, Ardern, as an aside, said to her deputy “He’s such an arrogant pr----.” Her words were barely audible on Parliament TV but were just picked up in the background.
Ardern later sent an apologetic text to Seymour, who said he was “shocked and astonished” at her language, which was out of character. He said Ardern had said in her text that “as her mom said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it.”